The William J. Cooper Foundation and the Department of Theatre present the world premiere of Hearts of Man, the newest performance by American playwright/actor/director Adriano Shaplin and his company The Riot Group on Sunday, September 9 at 7:30 pm in the Pearson-Hall Theatre, LPAC. Hearts of Man is co-presented by the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and co-commissioned by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vermont. In addition, The Riot Group will perform the Philadelphia premiere of Pugilist Specialist, the company’s most acclaimed work, on Friday, September 14 and Saturday, September 15 at 7:30 pm in the Pearson-Hall Theatre, LPAC. A post-show discussion with Adriano Shaplin and members of The Riot Group will follow the performances on September 9th and 14th. All performances are free and open to the public without reservations.

Adriano Shaplin (b. 1979) is the co-founder and guiding spirit of The Riot Group, which was established while he and his collaborators were still students at Sarah Lawrence University. Shaplin initially established a tie with the Department of Theater at Swarthmore College through his collaboration with the Pig Iron Theater Company on their 2004 production of Hell Meets Henry Halfway, which was created and first performed on campus with the support of the Swarthmore Project in Theater. In spring 2006, he taught a playwriting workshop class in the Department of Theater. Later that year, Shaplin was named the first Playwright-in-Residence of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The company will offer a two day workshop while on campus, September 12 & 13 from 4:10-6:40pm in Pearson-Hall Theatre, LPAC. Students may sign up in the Theater Department office (Room 13, LPAC).